Appropriate material selection for sealing applications is highly indispensable for the enhancement of sealing efficiency. Under the category of elastomeric sealing materials, different implications on the tribological system under extreme loading conditions leads to varied friction coefficients and deformation affinity depending upon properties of the sealing material concerned. Detailed analyses of such tribological properties are very much essential for better understanding about the sealing materials. Based on such improved understanding, further optimisation and development of testing systems and sealing materials can be achieved. The present work summarises the tribological investigations and bulk material characterisations of several thermoplastic polyurethanes used for sealing applications. This material class possess various advantages like: reliable producibility via injection moulding technique, good durability against liquids and excellent tribological properties. Later mentioned qualities are important for the sealing life time and functionality with regard to the friction and wear behaviour. The crux of this work and the underlying motivation is the development of tribological test methods, including various model systems and a component test rig, to deepen the understanding of sealing material-test condition co-relations. Portability criterions are created by comparing the results of the model testing rig and the component test setup. Material testing deliverables are used to set-up contact models for the simulation of component contact situations. Experimental investigations are performed to validate the results obtained from the simulations. The insight obtained from the above mentioned experiments and simulations is used for developing friction and failure models for the thermoplastic polyurethane based sealing materials. The study contributes important elements to the research & development of polyurethane based sealing systems. Such contribution includes: the optimisation of ring-on-disc testing geometry with the portability principle between model and component tests; realistic visualisation of the deformation behaviour in contact regions via contact simulations and stress concentrations in the contact. Furthermore, the influences of different tribometers on the tribological properties of thermoplastic polyurethanes are shown. Successful implementation of the friction and failure models based on the experimental results and simulation activities are setup. Compliance of the experimental and simulation based findings shows the possibility for the polymer tribology industry to assess local mechanical and physical processes, and possible component behaviour for sealing applications.